Natural gas futures probed higher early Wednesday amid colder adjustments to the forecast outlook and signs of supportive fundamentals, at least in the short term. The February Nymex contract was up 11.1 cents to $3.828/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET. 

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

While volatile recently, weather models showed only a small day/day change in projected weather-driven demand expectations heading into Wednesday’s trading, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

“The consensus was enough to push our official forecast just a bit colder,” with the cooler change focused around next week, Bespoke said. 

After the middle of the month, the outlook becomes “more uncertain,” with model disagreement over the potential for frigid conditions to find their way into the populated eastern United...